Friday, January 9, 2015

The Superman Artist You've Heard Of--Believe Me

"If There Were No Superman" in World's
Finest 38 (Jan-Feb/49) seems to
have been a stumper as far as IDing the penciller goes. His final World's
Finest Boy Commandos, as it
happens, was in the previous issue. This is his second Superman story,
the first being "The Man Who Bossed Superman" in Superman
51 (Mar-Apr/48); before
1949
is out he'll start contributing the occasional story to Superboy.

Curt Swan will return to drawing Superman.

The best guess on the penciller for "If There Were No Superman" has
been Wayne Boring, with a question mark. That just goes to show how
important it is to ignore the inking; in this case Stan Kaye's inks on
Swan immediately remind you of his inks on Boring. Try to
imagine these panels as if inked by George Klein. One way or the other,
you
have to look behind the inks for Swan's poses and layouts and a few
recognizable facial types. The less you look at Superman himself, where
Boring's version is certainly the model, the better. On other
pages than these, objects like castles and ships showcase Swan's
realistic approach rather than Boring's impressionistic one.

Speaking of inkers obscuring pencillers, that Boy Commandos story in WF 38, "Rip Carter—Fugitive from a Chain Gang," has been attributed to Swan, but its pencils are by another BC artist you've heard of: Jack Kirby.

8 comments:

I guessed Swan before I looked at your id. The main figure that made me think Swan was the man typing and the poses of the background figures in the ancient Rome panel. As you noted, looking at Superman wouldn't have given it away. Great discovery!

To be fair, Martin selected the panels. The typist is a dead giveaway, as is the skylight panel. I don't think Boring ever drew such a shot in his life. But laid out in the original context its probably harder to tell.

Yes, I had to ponder awhile in choosing the three most Swanlike tiers. The gent just above and to the right of my words "Curt Swan," in the Roman scene, is Swan to the T. But, as you suggest is possible, Whoswhoz, on the following page there's a woman fleeing who almost could be by Boring. The days when Swan's art will be the model on Superman are still a few years off!